Where do you go find the things you know you need but can't find? The same place you go to find the things you didn't know you needed, the Vermont Country Store.
During the Great Depression a writer from New York grew disillusioned with city life and returned for a vacation to Vermont. He found himself in an idyllic mountain top town of a few hundred souls. Instantly he felt a connection with the town and bought a house on the village green. Vrest Orton later recalled to a reporter from the Saturday Evening Post, "An old man was riding a solitary cow down the village street. People were lighting lamps in the houses. The rickety old sheds and barns and some of the houses exuded a mystic air of other worldliness."
With childhood memories of his families Vermont general store, and the vision of a poet, Vrest set out to create a special place. Some might have stocked a store to the rafters with whatever they could get, Vrest Orton sought out unique merchandise to fit his vision of what a Country Store should be. He went so far as to find a tin maker who made old fashioned nutmeg graters, not because they were old fashioned but because they worked the best. When people started visiting the store they wanted to buy its old kerosene lanterns and country store chairs. Vrest found a maker for these too.
Vrest's writing ability did not go to waste, in 1945 he mailed out a catalog containing 16 items to 1000 people. As they say, the rest is history. Today you can shop the Vermont Country Store online, via catalog, or stop in to one of their two retail locations.
Current proprietor Lyman Orton is dedicated to preserving the formula that has worked so well for the company. "My commitment to finding you practical, hard to find merchandise and to superior customer service remains absolutely unshakeable" he states in his Customer Bill of Rights. Judging by what I saw on my visit to his store, I would say he is doing an excellent job.
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